Basically they did half of a usual first set, followed directly by the jam. Bob Wagner

In '78, a good way for a hippie to get teeth knocked out was to try to mingle with fans on a country bill. This was the boys' only time at the KC Chiefs football stadium, though they had played KC 8mos earlier. It's a shorter show [one long set with a dividing break], but that's because they were the middle act, before Waylon & Willie.

The '76 "Willie Nelson Fifth Annual 4th of July Picnic" had been something of a violent disaster, so in '77 he had a smaller event, moved it out of state to Tulsa, and only played on the 3rd. For '78, Willie moved the picnic back to Texas, playing the Austin Opry in what was a small, unpromoted, semi-private affair, "The Sixth Annual 4th of July Picnic". However, when Barry Fey wanted to brand the KC date, held 3 days earlier, as "The Fourth Annual Willie Nelson 4th of July Picnic" (?!), Willie shrugged, knowing it would take unwanted attention away from the Sixth Annual Picnic he was to play on the 4th. He also shrugged when Fey booked his favorite band...on a country bill (if you were around in '78, you know the weight of this clash). However, the 110 degree heat index kept violence more in check. The Dead entourage showed up late, set up, stayed on stage for an hour longer than slotted (delaying the whole festival), made some converts, and pissed off thousands more. Surprisingly, they did a Drums>Space - at a country festival slot. But then, they were not supposed to. Willie also played the Texxas Jam the next day! (not billed as a Picnic). "The Dead" played a Willie Picnic in 2003, in the hillscrub outside of Austin.

A hard-to-find AUD circulated in low gen, and not usually complete, but then came a crisp Betty Board, followed by an official release (which edits the long tunings). It's not the the best show of the tour, but it IS the 2nd best (after Omaha), and given the heat, the huge-but-partly-filled stadium, detuning guitars and bad house monitors, they did great.

First Set. They're a bit rusty at first, but excited, and when they finally cut loose on Bertha the guitars go right out of tune in the heat. They will keep doing so for the duration. There are some sketchy vox in Good Lovin' - probably due to the iffy monitors. The next couple are above average for '78 - not aces but exciting, still. Then it gets really good before the short break, with a perfect Friend and a tempo/energy surge for Me & My Uncle. Jer wrings all he can from Big River - a bone for Cash fans (he was huge at the time).

Second Set. Terrapin is more economical and brisker than usual; parts are perfect. It's solid GOGD into Drums>Space. I've no idea who plays with the mic like a child on some of these mid-'78 shows (it was much quieter on the PA - and on the AUD). Mickey stays out and it resolves quickly into a somewhat hard-fought Estimated. The fantastic Jer solo makes up for it. The nicely uptempo The Other One leads into what may be the best damn Wharf Rat of '78 . It's just phenomenal. But beware the Donnaskreech™ in Around. Johnny B. Goode leaves 'em happy and Donna only barely screams randomly.

1st Set:  B
2nd Set: B
Overall = 4 stars

Highlights:
Friend of the Devil - gets really good
Me & My Uncle - energy build
Big River - Keith & Jer
Wharf Rat - best of '78
Johnny B. Goode - leaves 'em psyched

SOURCES: An AUD and a Betty SBD. Some balance issues on the SBD went unfixed on the official release.

whoops I did in, damn what year was that, 1990. July 4/ anyways never looked so hard for a ticket and yet scored on 7/4/ It was like 100 degrees as seems to be the case at all shows now in 2016

The Dead were indeed just one band performing that day at Willie Nelson’s annual 4th of July picnic. As I remember, other than Willie and the Dead, Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter and a local band called Missouri performed among others. I guess Missouri figured that if the neighboring state of Kansas could have a successful eponymous band maybe it would work for them. It was brutally hot, water was scarce and people kept throwing fireworks around. Once they finally got on stage it seemed like the Dead didn’t really know how to shorten a set to fit into a day with multiple acts. My memory is that they played about 45 minutes without a break, paused to tune up, and then played about an hour and a half without stopping. Truly a memorable show with performances as scorching as the weather. In an article about the event in the Kansas City Star the next day one of the concert promoters was quoted as saying of the Dead “They were hard to get on stage but even harder to get off”

This was the first time I saw the Dead. In hindsight it was weird because they were sandwiched in between other bands and only played one set. The temperature on the field was like 135 degrees and they had to keep tuning their instruments. My sister's bf worked security and said the band showed up 2 hours late and played 45 minutes longer than they should have. I didn't know a recording of this show existed until 2005. Thanks for the memories!

This show was not 2 sets. It was one long set.

This was a Willie Nelson Picnic.

This is a better copy than had been circulating.